A Strip of Road, a Bulb of Light, a Bucketful of Water

#23 dost mittar - thanks!

#26 sadna - I quite agree, one can`t compare Delhi to TN - I was just trying to find out what made Jayalalitha tick with the TS electorate, since it simply baffled us. Obviously the answer I was given, that Stalin and his dad had done so much for TN (or rather, Chennai - flyovers, clean city, etc - the same stuff that`s produced to explain Sheila Dikshit`s success), but people preferred Jaya because she looks so much better, seems wrong on all counts! Harimau in #25 and 26 has provided another answer. I guess that goes to buttress, once again, what I`ve noted before, that it`s governance, or at least hope of governance, that really matters to the voter.

I have handled the account of some of the governmental clients who are into various e-governance projects - and I can tell you that India is doing pretty well as of now and at this pace it is going to get over all the problems that have besieged it in last few years with regard to governmental red tapism.

Ref urbashi #15

[Rabri Devi wins because of Laloo, of course, so she shouldn`t really be counted among these women, but Jayalalitha?]

Jayalalitha won because Karunanidhi in his last term delivered squat to the voting public. Other than talk about Tamil pride.

Ref urbashi #22

[Incidentally, I remember being rather impressed by the changes that Stalin had brought about in Chennai.]

Exactly what has MK Stalin done for Chennai? The Maasanamuthus of Tamil Nadu are incapable of managing the garbage collection process so he gave a contract to Onyx of Singapore for collecting the garbage (and getting a little kickback).

Has he done anything about supplying drinking water to Chennai residents? His daddy Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion swindled the state out of millions on a scheme to bring water from the Veeranam lake to Chennai. At least Jayalalitha is finally implementing the project.

MK Stalin is Karunanidhi`s choice for handing over the DMK party to his family members. Should Karunanidhi die before the next election, there will be no DMK. The Maasanamuthus will desert en masse to Jayalalitha and the AIADMK.

urbashi #22
``So why did Jaya defeat Stalin?``

As I said, I donot know enough about TN to venture an answer. However I am not comfortable with the comparison of Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Delhi consists of not much more than the urban area itself and hence the development of the city of Delhi is a significant election issue in Delhi. Tamil Nadu on the other hand consists of a large state apart from its capital city, so the development of Chennai would have proportionally much less importance as an election issue in Tamil Nadu politics.

Someone once told me, its not as if people are all that happy with Jayalalitha either. Apparently literacy rates have lagged overall in Tamil Nadu and its industries are not doing very well. There are large regions in rural Tamil Nadu where water is a scarce commodity and people have to subsist on the very barest minimum, on the edge of disaster almost.

As you pointed out is the case in MP, there is a lot of difficult problem solving remaining to be done there - when respective CMs and their middle class constituencies hooked on to ideology or politics as a spectator sport, can spare the time and the attention, ie.

urbashi:
You should interact here more often. We do need more intelligent women here, although it`s not always easy, especially for Indian women.

#16 and #17, dost mittar and sadna,
You`ve just emphasized what I`ve been trying to say, it`s the call to governance, not things like cows and temples and so on, that accounts for the recent victories. Pitting Karunanidhi against Jaya is a little (I can`t bring myself to say a lot!) like Khurana against Sheila. Incidentally, I remember being rather impressed by the changes that Stalin had brought about in Chennai. Now Sheila Dikshit is claiming she`s done much the same things for Delhi that Stalin had done (it`s another matter that the BJP says she`s taking credit for what the Centre`s done). So why did Jaya defeat Stalin? You mean they`re even more corrupt that Jaya? One interesting answer to this I`d heard was that Jaya looks so much better. I guess that goes for Sheila too?

ballukhan #19
No. It was a pre-paid airport taxi :).

``were you ripped off by that taxi driver after the journey or not???``
Amma, tum Dilli se tau nahin ho?

#17 by sadna on December 19, 2003 3:24pm PT

Last time the taxi driver talked about corruption was when I asked him about the status of his electronic meter........he apparantly was trying to justify his attempt to rip me off in public....tell me honestly- were you ripped off by that taxi driver after the journey or not???

#12 scenario
+ Margaret Alva in Karnataka

urbashi #15
``Rabri Devi wins because of Laloo, of course, so she shouldn`t really be counted among these women, but Jayalalitha? ``

I can only guess. Once during a taxi ride in Chennai, the taxidriver began to talk about how the main `official` airport taxi service (as well the private one?) was owned by Sashikala. Then he talked of other instances of Sashikala`s influence. So I asked him whether it was better when Karunanidhi was in power. He said `both are Ali baba`(meaning 40 chor). He meant there isn`t much to choose between the two parties wrt corruption.

I guess people tolerate corruption as long as their own needs are met, because there isn`t much choice. But a corrupt politician who doesnot deliver either is very apt to be booted out.

That was the reason generally given given the last time she was voted out(not long after that infamously ostentatious wedding of her nephew). She may have learned a lesson then. Her recent heavyhandedness with The Hindu was IMO, a strange miscalculation on her part.

Another advantage could be that JJ overtly, at least, has no tolerance for the LTTE, while Karunanidhi makes it a point to be ambiguous. She also seems sharp and intelligent in her demeanour(she is reputed to be a voracious reader), in contrast to him as an old school politician in his 80s, with no clear successor. At the regional level at least, the average age of politicians seems to have come down.

urbashi:
``so she shouldn`t really be counted among these women, but Jayalalitha?``
Good question! And I think I have an answer. I think that despite her extravaggant lifestyle , high-handedness and ruthlessness, she seems to do not too badly when it comes to governance. And in a country where soft, wobbly, pusilannimousness has come to be known as democracy, she does seem to command respect for orders.
Tamil Nadu seems to be doing well on socio-economic indicators. The school meal scheme, started by her or MGR, has proven such a success that it has been accepted nationwide. Her latest confrontation with the irresponsible trade unions has won her respect from many quarters.

....and I can`t believe I am praising her!

sadna, journalists in MP have been given lots and lots of special facilities, from cheap land to build homes to other things one doesn`t even want to mention. The local Hindi newspapers go after anyone they think is vulnerable to blackmail and stop only when they`ve been paid off in some way or the other. I do believe the media are far more venal and irresponsible than our corrupt politicians. And why should they make a fuss about bad roads? A very prominent newspaper baron in MP took the contract for repairing some of the bad roads, got the money, spent in on his other business schemes which were falling apart and which could have got him in jail, then went after the minister in charge, saying that the roads were bad, because the minister refused to sanction any more money. Don`t forget that most newspapers in MP at least are owned by politicians or connections of politicians. I only wish it were as simple as not being given Govt ads or newsprint.
Yes, the opposition certainly WAS weak, and for reasons I`ve hinted at in my earlier post.
The point is that the BJP won in these three States not because the people in the Hindi heartland are Hindu fundamentalists, or swayed by the Togadia brand of Hindutva, and hope the BJP will establish a Hindu Ram Rajya, but simply because they wanted to teach the Congress that no matter how clever your media management is the business of the Govt is governance, and the simple basics of everyday life - roti, pani, bijli, sadak, and ordinary izzat. Certainly a woman will be more sensitive to these issues. And neither of the two BJP women have ever been associated with corruption - they`ve always been noted for straight talking. That`s why Sheila Dikshit won too. Fancy pitting someone like Khurana against Dikshit! As for CG, the journalists love to say how much of development the ex-IAS officer managed to achieve there, but the fact remains that he was a bully and a fascist and as ruthless in his corruption as Diggy. The Judeo tape may have been bad, but Jogi`s reputation is far worse, and by plotting Judeo`s downfall Jogi brought about his own.
Unfortunately the triumvirate of Mayavati, Rabri Devi and Jayalalithaa haven`t done much for woman power, have they? Can anyone suggest why they keep on winning elections, even though Mayavati isn`t in power right now - having been outmanouevred by the wily fox Mulayam Singh Yadav? Rabri Devi wins because of Laloo, of course, so she shouldn`t really be counted among these women, but Jayalalitha?

urbashi #13
``It`s not just roads in MP - it`s the power situation, and above all the corruption. What I find very interesting is that the newspapers never talk about this. Why do you think this has happened? ``

10 years is a long enough time to cultivate friendly journalists? Or, an editor who makes inconvenient points may be denied access or his paper`s govt. advertisements or newsprint quotas may be put at risk? Just guessing. Isn`t newsprint subsidised? THAT may be the core reason :).

A opposition perceived to be weak(and unable to protect newspapers sticking their necks out) could also be a reason. Though writing about bad roads can hardly be called courageous journalism.

How about the local Hindi newspapers?

Unlike most if not of all of you who`ve been writing in, I actually live in the Hindi heartland and know why these women won. It seems most people have been swayed by the media - both the print media (newspapers and magazines) and television - who seemed to us to have been bought over by interested parties. Interestingly, the same magazines who`d begun to sing hosannas to Sonia Gandhi as the great white hope of India (pun intended) are now putting her down.

Sheila Dikshit - because she`s seen as efficient and caring, and far less open to corruption than any of her rivals, within and outside her own party. The BJP`s putting up Khurana against her as CM candidate was actually the best thing that could`ve happened to Dikshit.

Vasundhara Raje - again, because people`s memories aren`t that short after all, and they know Gehlot wasn`t a good CM throughout his tenure - it`s only in the last year that he began to do what he should have been doing all along. He - and many readers of newsmagazines - actually began to believe the propaganda that he was regarded as the best CM in India by the people. Vasundhara,I agree,did play the maharani to the hilt, but was careful to be the people`s princess, you know, the old queen-of-hearts ploy. And not only did people want the Congress out, they wanted someone who was talking to them of things they understood and wanted, and who they knew wouldn`t be corrupt. She`s also believed to be efficient, and her mother was widely respected.

Uma Bharati`s win was a foregone conclusion. We just wanted the Congress out, and Diggy in particular. We`re just sick and tired of their lies, their corruption (monumental), their complacency, their slick media management. Farzana, it had absolutely nothing to do with who could protect the cow better. You need to get away from Bombay sometimes to know what the reality is, you see. And Uma Bharati was the best bet, because she was one person who we all know is untainted by Diggy`s money - he`d kept all the old BJP leaders quiet and ``happy``, but he couldn`t do that with Uma. And bijli-sadak-pani is the only thing that matters in MP, not whether there was egg in the cake Uma Bharati offered up to Hanuman. Diggy lost because of his soft Hindutva - Uma didn`t win because of Hindutva at all. Modi`s trenchant comments about the Congress did help her, perhaps, but the comments were about governance, not about cows, temples, etc., which the Congress wanted to talk about.

Yes, all of them being women might be only coincidental, but even taking Rabri Devi, Mayavati and Jayalalitha into account (and not forgetting rumours of the fine Italian hand dipping into the tills of all the Congress-ruled states), women are regarded as being more honest and better-meaning than men in the political sphere, just as they make better workers in offices and teaching institutions.Let`s not celebrate woman power just yet. But this could very well be the beginning of the end of male domination in politics. One Indira couldn`t do it (btw, don`t you think that remark about Indira was completely uncalled for), but now there will be many more women.

It`s not just roads in MP - it`s the power situation, and above all the corruption. What I find very interesting is that the newspapers never talk about this. Why do you think this has happened?

btw suppose in addition to current CMs
Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan
Uma Bharati in MP
Rabri Devi in Bihar
Sheila Dikshit in Delhi
Jayalalitha J in TN

we also had as CMs

Gowri amma in Kerala
Ambika Soni in Haryana
Rajinder Kaur in Punjab
Vidya Stokes in Himachal
Mehbooba Mufti in J&K
Mayawati in UP
Mamata Banerjee in WB

That would be 12 women CMs. Add one woman PM and stir :).

ah, farzana, that was so predictable...saw it a mile away....haha

I do not care much about any one`s ``evaluation`` of political personalities- whatever the hidden agenda of any political party- I am happy to see the issues of BSP i.e. infrastructure and the State government`s contributions becoming significant in the political front.
Nobody can deny that BSP was the reason for the downfall of Diggy raja.
Shiela has always come out as a supporter of infrastructural upgradation in Delhi -she wants to make Delhi`s infrastructure ``world-class``. Her bhagidari scheme is great. Best of luck to her.

Some good progress has been made by the new breed of technologically savvy bureaucrats many of them are from IIT-s- there are laudable e-governance projects taken upo by states like AP, Maharastra, TN, Gujrat- and now J&K. I can predict that within 4 years, most of the State government secreteriats , including the Central Government ministries would be ONLINE with their paperless offices and complete automation of their workflows. India would be a greater force than what it is now- It would have a very powerful and efficient bureaucracy - all because of automation of their complex workflows- which would prune their work flows - do a BPR of the processes- expedite governmental processes- create online citizen interface - reduce manual interaction with the citizens- cut down corruption- improve efficiency- and hence the ECONOMY-
Just wait and see guys- the enemies would invest more on trying to sabotage the governmental networks than setting up their own house in order- but they would not succeed. India IS going to have Europe for breakfast!!!

IMO, BJP would have won in MP whoever they put up.

One major issue in MP was roads. Ask anyone from MP and they will tell you that there were virtually no roads left, only potholes. Apparently when Clinton visited MP(I forget as President or as ex-President), the govt. paved only one side of the road, the one on which he was to travel !

Digvijay Singh seems to have been absolutely oblivious to the state of the roads, which is amazing.

The thing to see is what BJP does different. BJP has been in power in MP before, and was dispatched by Digvijay who stayed 2 terms.

#3 by kaurasach
//..the witch and whore Indra Gandhi was a woman ...//

Indira had many faults and I am no fan of hers. But why do u call her a ``whore`` !!! That was totally uncalled for.

#4 by plats8
//..If they feel appropriate, I can completely foresee hard-Hindutva used in 2004...//

I agree. if people respond to Hindutva - BJP will use it, you can bet on that.

The bottom line is - it is upto the eloctorate to grow up and show complete disdain for stupid gimmicks like ban on cow killing and other assorted pet-ideas propagated by the parivar. This election has shown that might be happening. Hopefully this trend will continue.

Unless of course, another bunch of hot-head muslims burn a train load of VHP activists. Then, I don`t know.

It is an exaggeration to call the recent election a sign of women power in India. It is true that half of the country is now governed by women and it could have been two-thirds if Mayawati was still there. The Congress was expected to win Delhi and the BJP Madhya Pradesh regardless of who was their leader. Indeed, dissident Congress people in Delhi were suggesting that Dixit would be replaced if Congress won.
Uma Bharti must be given the credit where credit is due because she is a self-made woman and has exploited her OBC status rather well. It`s a pity though that she has won over a sensible politician like Digvijay Singh, despite his silly attempts to win on a soft-hindutva platform. I dont think that Uma`s win is a victory of the hindutva forces; despite her background and the ostentatious display of religiousity during her swearing-in ceremony, she steered clear of the hindutva agenda during the election. It was, indeed, Digvijay who tried to malign the Vajpayee govt. for not banning cow slaughter.
Above all, it was a victory of better election management and a Congress party which was probably lulled into complacency by favourable opinion poll results.

Harish:
I would not start applauding just yet. Sheila Dikshit did not win because of the metro rail; she won because she had no competition. Uma Bharti may promise bijli, paani etc, but in MP it was a clear case of who would protect the cow better. Digvijay Singh`s party president eats cows, the BJP`s does not. As for Vasundhara Raje, despite the belief that Ashok Gehlot`s efforts to develop Rajasthan were not hollow, she won because she played the maharani to the hilt; in a feudal society it works. Pramod Mahajan in a recent TV interview was talking about how ``Vasu`` reminds him of rajmata (Vijayaraje Scindia) and he waxed eloquent about her, ``large eyes, her lips, just like the Rajmata``.

The US may talk about how “women are moving up in India”, but the toiling women in the villages and shanties in cities, by doing what they do, are sturdy enough to survive political shifts.

Btw, your reference to Uma Bharti`s celibacy was quite unnecessary.

Regards,
Farzana

pmishra2 #1,

You are right. Hindutva is very much there - the ``bijli, sadak, paani`` ploy was
just to get to the takht. However, it seems that there is some poetic justice in
that non-performance does get punished in Indian elections. If Uma Bharati
doesn`t deliver, she will hopefully be gone in 5 years.

The BJP is basically hunting for election issues for next year. If they feel
appropriate, I can completely foresee hard-Hindutva used in 2004.

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Its a pity that Uma Bharti is celibate...... must have been chikni in her early years.

I wish I could be real positive but I am not ready yet. Hindutva is still in the back pocket waiting to be unleashed. Demagogue Advani is still blaming every bus accident on the ISI.

Uma Bharati converted the MP swearing-in process to a massive hindu puja. How would the muslims, Christians and plain old ``secular`` hindus of MP felt? Are all those swamis going to generate more bijli or build real sadak`s?

It is a good thing that women were elected. Uma Bharati herself comes from an extremely simple background (she is a high school dropout but has educated herself reasonably well). Women power could start to make a big difference, especially as panchayats now have a women quota.